Cyclone Women in Second After Day Two

WACO, TX- Ese and Ej Okoro led an Iowa State women's team that qualified five runners for the finals on Sunday at the 2013 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. The Cyclone women currently sit in second place with 41 points, trailing only Kansas, which has 53.

All-American Ej Okoro was the third-fastest qualifer in the Saturday's 800-meter run prelims and knows that more is to come Sunday.

“I took it out the first 200 and I went with the pace,” Okoro said. “Coming towards the final lap I turned it up because I felt comfortable. My main objective was just to qualify so I did everything that I set out to do. I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Ese Okoro finished second in the 400-meter hurdles behind Danielle Dowie from Texas. While the Cyclone senior was happy with today’s results, she is prepared for the finals.

“It was a good race,” Okoro said. “I wanted to win so I could get a good lane draw. Tomorrow I will need to run a PR. I will need to be consistent and stay focused.”

Along with Ese Okoro, Donnise Powell also qualified for the 400-meter hurdles. Powell’s time of 59.39 ties her second best effort in the race.

Kendra White earned her spot in the final round of the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.94.

Senior Maggie Gannon was the fourth-fastest in the preliminary round of the 1,500-meter run. For Gannon, time wasn’t an issue, she just wanted to earn her spot in the finals. Gannon’s strategy of sticking close to the leader proved effective and she plans to use it again.

“I am going to run pretty much the same race tomorrow,” Gannon said. “I’ll be right behind the leaders and then stride out the last 400-meters.”

Sophomore Christina Hillman scored the Cyclones 6 points in the shot put. Hillman earned third place in the event with a mark of 55-00.25.

The Iowa State men were led by Nick Efkamp,Jacob Aune,Troy Walls and Ian Waner. Efkamp qualified for the 400-meter dash and Aune earned a spot in the 800-meter run. Ian Warner qualified for the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.31. Walls scored 1.5 points for the Cyclones in the high jump putting the Iowa State men in fifth place with 18.50 points. Texas sits atop the men’s leaderboard with 55.50.

Efkamp, the 2013 Big 12 indoor 400-meter champion, had to make an in-race adjustment running in lane eight where he wasn’t able to judge where he was against his competition. The Madrid native knows there will be added pressureSunday as he is the reigning indoor champion.

“It has more or less become a target on my back so I know that everyone is kind of gunning for me,” Efkamp said. “The added pressure is going to make me perform.”

Aune clocked an 800-meter time of 1:53.02 and earned the eighth spot in the event's Sunday final.

The meet will resume Sunday with the women’s triple jump starting at 11 a.m. CDT. Results will be posted on cyclones.com after the conclusion of the meet.